Nabokov's Literary Thoughts Reflected In Invitation To A Beheading

Invitation to a Beheading is a novel published in the latter part of Nabokov's Berlin years. It was regarded by Nabokov as the "most esteemed" one of his novels. It has aroused much research interests in the critic field since its publication. As a talented novelist, Nabokov is distinguished not only for his use of words and style, but also for his literary ideas that he implemented in his novels, mainly concerning "time prison", "reality view" and "otherworld". He believed in Monism and stressed the individual's subjective reality, ignoring the value of the traditional material reality. Without the logic of traditional reality, Nabokov put forward an idea that the pure time is the real time, which forms the time prison and consists of the realm of human existence. Besides, Nabokov believed in and had been pursuing all his life the "otherworld", which permeates through all his works. This thesis attempts to explore Nabokov's literary views that are reflected in Invitation to a Beheading.The thesis includes six parts:introduction, four chapters and conclusion. The introduction reviews the research background of Invitation to a Beheading and studies on Nabokov's literary ideas.The First Chapter is devoted to introduction of Nabokov's literary views which are divided into three parts:"Reality View", "Time Prison" and "Otherworld". The Second Chapter deals with the reflection of Nabokov's reality view in Invitation to a Beheading. In the novel, the reality is dream-like:the characters'identities are perplexing, the setting being unreal, and the narrative logic being untraditional. The vague awareness of Cincinnatus and unconventional logic are balanced in the monist reality and subjective reality views. The reality in Invitation to a Beheading is featured with unrealistic fantasies, which seem to be recreation of dreams. By doing this, Nabokov created a Monist, non-ready-at-hand reality, in which the reality in the novel echoed the author's personal reality. The Third Chapter deals with the reflection of Nabokov's Time prison concept in Invitation to a Beheading. This awareness of time keeps the protagonist of the novel constantly under a mental condition of anxiety and vexation. The Fourth Chapter explores the otherworld influence on the chosen novel. The otherworld premise is embodied in the pursuing process of a free world by the protagonist. And the pursuing process is a tripled transcendence:the transcendence of self, of poshlost, and of death.The last part summarizes Nabokov's three literary views that are employed in the novel. It also restates the significance of approaching his literary views in understanding this novel.